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Another Collapse at Pompeii Renews Fears About Its Fate

By Patricia Cohen December 23, 2011 2:15 pmDecember 23, 2011 2:15 pm

Mount Vesuvius preserved the city of Pompeii in ash nearly 2,000 years ago, but current neglect of this Unesco World Heritage site in southern Italy is taking its toll. A courtyard column of a Roman house collapsed on Thursday, the latest in a series of crumbling artifacts at the site, Reuters reported. Last year there were other collapses, including part of what is known as the House of Gladiators. The damage played a role in a no-confidence vote against Culture Minister Sandro Bondi earlier this year. Although Mr. Bondi survived the vote, he ended up resigning in March.

“This is a torment without end,” Luisa Bossa, a lawmaker from the leftist opposition Democratic Party, told Reuters. “We have been complaining for three years, but the country’s most important archaeological area continues to fall apart. The truth is that the site has been left alone for years and now, a bit at a time, we are paying the price.”

The city, which was buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., is one of Italy’s most popular tourist sites. “To overcome the emergency created by these collapses,” Tsao Cevoli, head of the National Association of Archaeologists, told the Italian news agency Ansa, “we need to hire specialized maintenance workers straight away. That is the only possible cure for Pompeii.” In October the European Union pledged nearly $150 million to help preserve and monitor the site.